In Full Bloom
by Lefauxlucifer
Summary: A take on how Wilhelm and Theresia fell in love, derived from the snippets of the anime.
1. Flowers

A/N: Well, supposedly there's an extra novel about how Wilhelm and Theresia fall in love, but seeing as how I can't find it… and episode 20 made me ship these two way too much… I had to do something about it, right? So here's part 1 of many, basically an extended version of that first scene with Theresia… I hope you like it!

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 _Wilhelm Trias  
_

 _If there was another way…_

 _A way beyond the sword… A way beyond war to protect those you love…_

 _A way to refuse the path of bloodshed…A peaceful way to peace…_

 _A thousand people have thought those thoughts… And those thousand men may have gone home in despair…_

 _But one of those thousand men, I am surely not._

Pushing aside the door of my humble abode, I stepped outside, fully equipped with everything I could possibly need. My feet lightly treaded on the unpaved ground as I walked a path few had the necessity of.

I inhaled the crisp morning air and lifted my head to the skies. My hair began to touch the nape of my neck, and I immediately tilted my face forward. Such untrimmed locks were considered uncouth amongst the royal guard, but what mattered more that mannerisms were skills.

Today was a good a day as ever to begin practicing.

The site was abandoned, not a person in sight, no sign of life to the naked eye… And why shouldn't it be?

I had heard that it used to be a small castle, quaint, the playground of a prince of this land from time to time… Eventually, portions of it were reduced to rubble, the prince grew up, and saw no need to maintain the castle any further. There was no cause for its use, and thus the necessity to rebuild it never arose.

As such, it was the perfect arena to train in… Not that others wouldn't have had the same idea, but there were much more choice facilities open to the nobility's use. Even for a petty commoner like myself, a place like this could easily be found in certain unsavory parts of town; there was no purpose to coming here, on the outskirts of the city.

Here, I could pursue anything, without the careful gaze of omnipresent government eyes. In this field, I was as much a king as a pauper.

I took my stance, placing my feet shoulder-width apart… Okay, maybe I overestimated how wide my shoulders were, but by just a tiny bit, I promise.

Unsheathing my sword, I raised it above my head to prepare for a strike. As I brought it down, I saw a faint crimson glow and paused, turning to my right to see what had caused it.

I exhaled sharply as I lowered my blade to my side and found a slender young woman, not older than myself, sitting nonchalantly atop stone brick, as if she was unbothered by my arrival.

It was undoubtedly strange that I had not discovered the girl upon my coming here, but in light of the impending mystery, I found this far more intriguing.

She seemed unnerved even at my continual gazing upon her, so I attempted calling out to her in the nicest way I thought possible.

"I haven't seen you before… What is a woman doing here so early in the morning?"

Her head flicked up slightly, finally aware that I existed. She turned her upper body to face me, then paused for a moment, lost in thought. She brought her finger up to her chin and narrowed her eyes, gazing at the sky. It seemed that she knew why she was here just as well as I did, or to put it plainly, neither of us was in possession of the foggiest idea.

She gave up, bringing her hands into her lap and smiled cheerfully at me. The sun shining brightly behind her granted her an additional glow as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied simplistically, as if it was enough to satisfy my curiousity. "Just come here."

Normally, I would have refused such a request, but this girl was anything but one to refuse.

I strode over to where she was, calmly, filled with certainty that nothing would come of such an encounter. The girl smiled widely at me again before she began hesitantly.

"Hey… Do you like flowers?"

My mouth opened in confusion at such a simplistic question and my mind went blank, incapable of coherent thought. I tried to speak, to say anything, but nothing came out. Finally, a slight stutter came out and my proud head fell to the ground, eager to glance at the condition of my feet.

"You don't have to decide right away if you don't want to, you know?" the crimson-haired girl chimed in, moving her legs back and forth as she sat on the layered brick.

"I-I," I began to say, but quickly gave up, believing any interaction with this girl to be futile and fruitless. Instead of responding, I simply picked up the sword and poised the blade, ready to strike should anything worthy of tasting its steel edge show up.

"So… have you figured out whether or not you like flowers yet?"

Something told me the girl wouldn't be silenced until she received a proper response to her pertinent question. I sighed, lowered my weapon, and turned to face her again. She blinked twice and huffed, bringing her head down to rest on her arms.

"I'll get words out of you yet, just you wait… I bet you really do like the flowers, don't you?" the words came out in an interrogative manner as she turned towards me, allowing me the fullest view of the golden field of flowers behind her as the wind brushed past us both.

I sheathed my sword, realizing that nothing would come of ignoring her. Rolling my eyes, I made my way over and brushed dust off of the layered brick, taking a seat next to her.

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A/N: Well, I didn't know how to really end this first one without making it too long but I think that was enough detail about these two for one chapter… Hoping to have the next one up in a week, maybe 2 if I have to work a lot…Expect them to be short and sweet though… At least now I can go to school peacefully before I die, yay…

Theresia is best girl,

~Lefauxlucifer


	2. Astonishment

_Wilhelm_

Cold, unsympathetic breeze raged past me, causing me to collide briefly with the girl on my left. She appeared unfazed by the fleeting touch of my skin against hers. I, however, sensed it almost too well as I felt my heart rate quicken unlike any other occasion. As I came back up from the wind, I was astonished that even in the face of such a potent force the girl to my left appeared to be entirely unaffected.

I opened my mouth to speak, then paused, unable to find anything worth mentioning. Her focus was unwavering, centered soundly upon the flowers. The girl's stare was intent, gazing at the flora with what appeared to be great and glorious purpose.

Flowers. A luxury, an indulgence, a superfluous aspect of life a commoner like myself had no part in, no use for.

I peered at the girl from the corner of my eye, hoping she didn't notice-wouldn't notice this. Her clothing was a flowing jade green that traced the edge of her ankles. It was fashionable, although some would possibly consider it outdated. It bordered the fine line between classic and prehistoric, but it was elegant, and likely befitting someone of her stature.

As I glanced briefly at the dress she happened to be wearing, I noticed her lack of pale complexion. A noblewoman like her would most certainly possess little requirement to labor a day in her life; she could hire servants to dress her if she so desired.

A noblewoman like her would have exactly zero reason to even be here; her family was easily rich enough to build a garden twice this size if they became aware that she desired one.

I turned away from her, unsure of anything to say that wouldn't result in the conversational topic changing to flowers.

"So… Do you like the flowers yet?"

I shifted my eyes and stood up. "I'm sorry to inform you, miss, but I will never be fond of the flowers."

"Oh." She appeared dejected before returning to her ever-smiling state. "So then, why would you come here, if you didn't like the flowers?"

Taken aback by her question, I opened my mouth to protest when I realized the truth behind her inquiry. There was merely no reason for someone who couldn't care less for flowers to come to an area beside a field full of them. To have done so, and then complain about them being there, would be sheer stupidity indeed.

Why had I chosen this location, of all the areas I could have selected? It couldn't be clearer that I despised the flowers; I could've went anywhere but here.

Simply, it was because I thought here would be quiet, a place of solitude to train in absolute silence.

"Because…. No one else ever comes here. This is a sacred place, a rundown castle that no noble would ever dream of stepping within a thousand feet of. A sacred place where I thought I could be alone. Besides, miss, I'm the one who should be asking that question," I articulated, not calm in the least, my hand instinctively reaching for my blade.

The girl looked confused for a moment, "Alone? You want to be alone? What does that… mean?"

I sighed in utter disappointment. For one in such an expensive dress, her mother and father had done an obscenely poor job in educating her.

"When someone wants to be alone, it means they are single, solitary; unaccompanied. without anyone or anything else. They do something and are somewhere that doesn't involve or include anyone or anything else".

She pondered my wise words before realizing something or other and expressing her thoughts upon the subject. "Oh. You came all this way just to be alone then?"

Puzzled by the simplicity of her question, I returned solely a blank stare, blinking a total of five times, unable to find the underlying significance in it.

The girl's face brightened and her body swayed from side to side as if a strong gust of wind swept across her in both directions.

"To be alone… _ano_ … Does it feel nice to be alone? I've never been alone before… It seems kinda tiresome to be alone. No one else is around to talk to you, you can't laugh with anyone… _sono_... no one can watch the flowers with you then… Hey, I know. You can teach me to be alone and then I can be alone with you and the flowers!"

Typical noblewoman.

"If you left right now and begin walking toward the east, you'll be perfectly alone, miss," the words flew out of my mouth without the slightest trace of pleasantry.

She stood up for the first time and smoothed out her jade-colored dress. Her smile became more radiant, and if I didn't know better, I would say that, if anything, it was to hide some internal disappointment.

" _Ara_ … Maybe I'll take your advice and go for a stroll," she began, a crimson glow emanating from her luxurious clothing.

" _Eeeeto_ … That means it's 0 fire-time now. _Nanka..._ _Sumimasen_ , swordsman- _sama_ , but I don't want to worry anyone back home. Maybe the next time we meet, we can sit and watch the flowers longer!" she articulated, exuding pure emotion, the false smile from earlier fading into a sincere grin of hopefulness.

As she turned around and walked off, a single twinge of culpability overcame me, for some reason I could not decipher.

I wished nothing more than to be rid of her, but I suppose as soon as she left, I desired nothing more than her return.

A/N: It's been forever since chapter 1, and I'm sorry if Wilhelm comes off as _tsundere_. And I apologize for everyone that waited for this to be posted and gave me that look when it wasn't. Don't have much else to say other than to expect these more often since my school life is slowly coming together, yay! Tell me what you thought of this if you aren't too busy w/homework like I've been?

Theresia is best girl,

~Lefauxlucifer


End file.
